Russia says it could vaccinate 50 million in EU from June

The EU’s medicines regulator has begun a rolling review as bloc seeks to speed up inoculations

Russia has said it expects several European Union countries to approve the use of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine this month, and that Moscow could provide vaccines for 50 million Europeans from June if the shot wins EU-wide approval.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it had started a rolling review of the jab, monitoring ongoing clinical trials.

“The rolling review will continue until enough evidence is available for formal marketing authorisation application,” the body said.

“While EMA cannot predict the overall timelines, it should take less time than normal to evaluate an eventual application because of the work done during the rolling review.”

Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, which is promoting Sputnik V internationally, said the shot could act as a bridge between Russia and Europe, and that its potential roll-out should not get bogged down in politics.

The vaccine began to gain international recognition after The Lancet medical journal published peer-reviewed results of interim trials showing 91.6 per cent efficacy last month. The two-shot inoculation uses two different weakened common cold viruses to deliver immune-building protein to the body.

Sri Lanka approved Russia’s jab on Thursday. It will be the second jab available in the country, following AstraZeneca’s.

Channa Jayasumana, the state minister overseeing pharmaceutical products in Sri Lanka, said the country had requested doses from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute and was awaiting confirmation of the amount it would receive.

In Europe, Slovakia received 200,000 doses of the Russian vaccine on Monday, the first of 2 million doses set to be shipped in the coming months.

In a statement, Mr Dmitriev said: “In Europe, Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in Slovakia, Hungary, San Marino, Serbia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska, Belarus and Russia with other countries of the region also showing strong interest in it.

“We have received numerous requests from EU states to provide Sputnik V directly to them based on the reviews of their national agencies.”

He added: “We will continue to do so as well as work with EMA based on the rolling review procedure we initiated in January.”